Highlight: Enemy AI

Enemy Intelligence.

Most Enemies follow the same structure to determine how to fight the Player. This structure is as follows:

-Enemy has a list of possible Abilities. -Enemy chooses which Ability to use. -Briefly pause to indicate to the Player which Ability they are about to use. -Use selected Ability.

Some Abilities may ignore this structure and may be used the instant a special condition occurs. Examples of these special conditions:

-Player is above a certain Enemy's head. -Enemy falls below a specific % of their Max Health. -A set amount of time has passed since combat has started. -Enemy uses a different Ability too many times.

Structured Enemy Abilities are chosen from their respective list based upon a variety of factors, but all lists are looked at like this:

-2 Counters count up from 0. ---A faster Counter reaches 100 and resets, and a slower Counter reaches 10 and resets.

-The slower Counter reaches 10 and checks to see what number the faster Counter is at. ---Abilities are assigned a range such as 45-70. If the faster Counter is within that range when the slower Counter reaches 10, then that Ability is chosen.

-The chosen Ability may have other restrictions such as: Enemy distance from Player, Enemy Health remaining, or number of times Ability was used.

-If everything checks out, then the Ability will be used.

Sometimes an Enemy has a chance to "dry fire", where a range of numbers in the faster Counter do not have an assigned Ability, or the slower Counter reaches 10 without all conditions being met. This allows the Enemy to keep chasing the Player or appear to be making decisions on its own without a set pattern.

Some ways to modify the intelligence or intensity of an Enemy include:

-Making the slower Counter faster or even slower. -Having every possible number in the faster Counter have an assigned Ability. -Adding more or less conditions required for a chosen Ability to be used.

Overall, this system can result in very relaxed or extremely oppressive enemies within the same system. When used properly, Enemies and Bosses should feel alive and ready to take on the Player.